e

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themselves offered participation to the governments. Paul
Semonin, in his article ‘Nationalisations and Management in Zam-
bia’ cites the spokesmen of Shell BP who claimed that initiative
for the government’s newly announced 51 % participation in their
operations came from the Company and was ‘a good business
deal’.'® The Economist'” following the Zambian nationalisations,
cautioned its investor readers to analyse the move rationally. It
said:
It will be a pity if the realities of President Kaunda’s move last week to
nationalise Zambia's copper mines are overlooked in a useless debate on
the ethics of it. It will be a tragedy if potential investors in Africa are
mistakenly led to believe that there is no longer a place for them there.
Although doing business in independent Africa now calls for a high
degree of political acumen, the opportunities available to those who
possess it are good. The risks are greater than in more settled parts of the
world but so are the returns:

The article continues:

The questions that a..yone either possessing or contemplating a finan-
cial stake in Zambia ought to be asking have to do with the future
political and economic stability of the country, rather than with the
principles of nationalisation or the mechanics of compensation. The
shrewdest businessmen in that part of the world have argued for some
time that 49 per cent stake in a business whose success is underwritten
by government participation may be more valuable than 100 per cent of
a concern exposed to all the political winds that blow. Companies (like
Booker Brothers) that have anticipated the direction of events and in-
vited the government into partnership have no reason to regret Zambian
investment so far.

A .H. Ball, the Chairman of Lonrho, Ltd. one of the most important
multinational corporations in Africa said:

We welcome Government participation in these businesses for, in our
view, the very fact that Government will be a substantial shareholder
should assist in their future stability and expansion.'®

BENEFITS OF PARTNERSHIP

MOBILISATION FOLLOWED BY DENATIONALISATION OF LOCAL
CAPITAL.

With a relatively small equity capital and a management con-
tract, amultinational corporation can mobilise and use substantial

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